La Fábrica opens its new cultural centre in Barrio de las Letras, the heart of Madrid.

Last May 31st, La Fábrica opened a 400 m2 space dedicated to culture and situated in Barrio de las Letras, one of the most vibrant districts in Madrid at the crossroads of the Prado, Thyssen-Bornemisza and Reina Sofía museums, and even a stone’s throw away from CaixaForum.

The space is the brainchild of La Fábrica, a privately-funded cultural promotor that, since 1995, has created such important projects as the international festival of photography and visual arts PHotoEspaña, the magazine Matador, the Jameson Notodofilmfest festival of cinema in internet and the literature festival Eñe.

With this establishment designed by Íñigo Guell, La Fábrica goes a step further and becomes a space open to the general public. La Fábrica, which is situated at number 9 in Alameda street, is now a meeting point set over two floors with a bookshop, an art gallery, an education centre and a coffee shop.

The library, which specialises in photography, has a stock of more than 1,000 books from the most important international publishing houses, a large catalogue of photography and trend magazines, as well as a selection of old art and photography books. Here, you can also pick up unique wines by Matador or selected by Telmo Rodríguez, exclusive limited editions products by creators of the calibre of Steve Mono and Suturno, the artist Rubenimichi or the jewellery makers Chus Burés and Andrés Gallardo; even ceramics by Sargadelos, cameras from Lomo, fresh flowers, artisan chocolates and a multitude of gadgets.

The art gallery is geared towards new collectors and presents work by big names in the art world at reasonable prices. ‘Flower Paradise’, a show from the Japanese artists Nobuyoshi Araki, opens this new comercial gallery concept. The exhibition forms part of PHotoEspaña’s Off Festival. The series of photographs, which are influenced by the tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011, show his recurrent famous flowers together with dolls (that represent women), as well as toy dinosaurs as a metaphor for the artist’s alter ego.

The education zone will hold courses and workshops on all the different areas that La Fábrica specialises in: photography, art, literature, cinema and cultural management. La Fábrica has also devised a weekly programme of activities: meetings with creators, talks, conferences, presentations and screenings on different fields in contemporary art. Last but not least, the coffee shop offers homemade sandwiches at any time of the day. An additional leisure zone for La Fábrica’s activities that will be the motor of their new space.

Find out what’s happening on www.lafabrica.com or their Facebook and Twitter pages.

Photographs: J. A. Rojo